Wind tunnels are well known in the art. Wind tunnels are available in many types and styles depending upon the needs of the user. These include subsonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, transonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, vertical subsonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, and compressible flow wind tunnels.
The majority of the wind tunnels are used for research and testing purposes. These include testing of conventional aircraft, helicopters, parachutes and other aerodynamic devices, wing surfaces, control surfaces, submarines, rockets and other launch vehicles, ground vehicles, buildings and other basic flow investigations.
The wind tunnels are generally owned by major defense oriented corporations, the Federal government, or educational institutions and universities. Although vertical wind tunnels are available for use by persons for various types of atmospheric freefall training, these wind tunnels are also generally controlled by the foregoing institutions for use only by authorized personnel. As a result, access to the wind tunnels is limited at best. These wind tunnels are not generally designed nor intended to be used by persons for the purpose of enjoyment or for learning to skydive. Consequently, none of these wind tunnels are used for general amusement purposes. None of these wind tunnels are available for use by essentially untrained people or by those with limited instruction. None of these wind tunnels are available to the public for use as an amusement ride. Further, the design of these prior art wind tunnels are not "user-friendly" for the purposes of use and enjoyment by users such as those who frequent amusement parks and the rides they offer. The prior art wind tunnels do not offer any means of enhancing the ride experience such as with a concurrent/interactive video presentation, nor do they offer a means of airflow control adopted to meet the needs of an operator providing thrill rides to the public.
Representative of the art is:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,486,287 to Jackson discloses an adjustable nozzle of a supersonic wind tunnel having fixed and moveable walls.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,560,634 to Colley discloses a Venturi tube having means for varying the throat area while the venturi is being used.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,788,020 to Davie discloses a linkage for effecting adjustment of a wind tunnel nozzle having moveable, flexible walls.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,799,161 to Greene et al. discloses trisonic wind tunnel having facilities for testing in subsonic, transonic, and supersonic speed ranges.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,933,922 to Davis discloses flexible nozzles for wind tunnels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,748 to Jacocks discloses a wind tunnel having adjustable slats allowing close matching of the streamlines within the wind tunnel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,410 to Sassak discloses an amusement apparatus comprising a spherical passenger holding body, and a vertical tube having a diameter sufficient to receive the body in a vertical path of motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,358 to Wulf et al. discloses a deformable plastic wall for use in a wind tunnel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,615 to Beard discloses an air driven amusement ride which propels a passenger vehicle upward along a guide cable out of an acceleration tube by a blast of pressurized air within the tube under the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,609 to Bouis discloses a wind tunnel having a plurality of wall surrounding a test section. The walls have a plurality of longitudinal slots, each channel created thereby having a flexible bottom.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,909 to Kitchen et al, discloses a skydiving trainer wind tunnel having a vertical air chamber with a video projection system on an interior wall.
University of Maryland, Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel Brochure.
Calspan Report No. WTO-300; 8-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel; Calspan Corporation, Buffalo, N.Y.
Compressible Flow Wind Tunnel; Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Company, Marietta, Ga.
AGARD Memorandum; Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development, Paris France, 1954.
Guide for Planning Investigations in the Ames 40- by 80-ft Wind Tunnel; NASA Ames Research Center; Moffett Field, Calif., 1984.
What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement ride having a flight chamber on the inlet side of the fans for improved airflow control and stability. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement ride having an adjacent staging area. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement device having a plurality of fans. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement ride having a single pass non-return airflow. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement device having transparent windows looking into the flight chamber. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement device having transparent windows looking into the staging area. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement device having return air ducts with dampers to control the temperature of the airflow. The present invention meets these needs.